PASADENA--Appointment of project managers for the two forthcoming Mariner-series deep space exploration mission to Venus and Mars has been announced by Gen. A. R. Luedecke, Deputy Director of the Jet Propulsion Laboratory of the California Institute of Technology.

Dan Schneiderman, Mariner IV project Manager, will manage the Venus project. It involves a single spacecraft to be launched in 1967. In addition, he will continue through 1967 in the completion of his duties as Project Manager for the recently successful Mariner IV mission to Mars.

H. M. Schurmeier, former Ranger Project Manager and currently Capsule System Manager for the Voyager series, will manage the new Mars project, an effort involving two new Mariner spacecraft scheduled for launch in 1969.

Effective February 1, Schurmeier will relinquish his duties as Voyager Capsule System Manager to Geoffrey Robillard, who will also continue in his present duties as Deputy Voyager Project Manager under Dr. D. P. Burcham, Luedecke said.

Voyager is a planetary exploration spacecraft scheduled for launch to Mars in 1973.

JPL will design and build the two Mariner/Mars '69 spacecraft and modify a spare Mariner IV spacecraft for the Venus mission in 1967.

JPL was assigned project management for the two new planetary mission by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration.